During the installation of a communication system, circuit boards are plugged into predetermined slots in an equipment housing. Some of these boards may require initialization by the user. The circuit board initialization process involves the user manually loading various parameters into circuit boards and/or the booting of programs into the board before that board or the system can be placed in service.
Additionally, when a circuit board of a communication system malfunctions, it must be replaced, sometimes requiring the user to power-down the system. Moreover, this replacement board must also be manually initialized by the user after being inserted into the equipment housing.
What is desired is a self-initializing communication system whereby each circuit board is automatically initialized when the system is powered. Additionally, it is desired that when a circuit board is replaced in an operating system, the replacement circuit board be automatically initialized by the system.